Frequently asked questions
Everything people usually ask before their first game — player counts, accounts, timings, what Premium changes, and what happens to the things you write.
Last updated: August 2, 2026
Getting started
Do I need to create an account to play?
No. The game creates an anonymous session for you the first time you visit, and that is enough to create rooms, join games, and play. Signing in with Google or an email link is optional — it saves your name and avatar between sessions, keeps your friends list, and is required if you want to manage a Premium subscription.
Do I need to download or install anything?
No. Doppelgänger runs entirely in the browser on phones, tablets, and computers. Share a link, everyone opens it, and you are playing.
How many players do I need?
Three at minimum and up to eight on the free tier, or twelve with Premium. Three works but is thin — with only two answers that aren’t yours, there isn’t much to deduce. The game is at its best somewhere between six and nine players.
How long does a game take?
Roughly four to six minutes per round, so a five-round game runs about half an hour. The answering phase is capped at 75 seconds and guessing at 90, but both advance early once everyone has submitted. The reveal has no timer, because that is the part people actually want to linger on.
Can we all play from the same room, or does everyone need to be remote?
Either works. Everyone needs their own device, since your answer has to stay private until the reveal, but whether you are on a video call or sitting around the same table makes no difference to the game.
What is the room code, and why are there no O or 0 characters in it?
Each room gets a four-character code for joining. The character set deliberately excludes O, 0, I, and 1, because those are the characters people get wrong when reading a code out loud across a room.
Gameplay
What game modes are there?
Four, and none of them is the main one — they share a lobby, a room code, and a leaderboard, and little else. Masquerade is the disguise game: answer anonymously, then work out who wrote what. Punchline is the comedy mode: write the funniest answer, most votes wins. Mimic assigns you another player to impersonate and asks the room to spot who you were doing. Impostor is a word game where everyone shares a secret word except one person. All four are free.
How does scoring work?
It depends on the mode. In Masquerade you earn two kinds of point: +1 for every answer you correctly match to its author, and +1 for every other player who guesses your answer wrong — so you are rewarded for reading other people and for being hard to read yourself. Punchline pays +2 per vote your answer receives, plus +1 if you backed the round's winner. Mimic pays +1 for each impression you identify and +1 to the author each time someone identifies theirs. Impostor pays +5 to an impostor who escapes the vote and +3 to each player who correctly named them.
Can I get points for guessing my own answer?
No. Your own answer is shown to you but excluded from your guessing, so there is no way to score off identifying yourself.
What happens if somebody loses connection mid-game?
They are marked as disconnected rather than removed, and can rejoin with the same room code and keep their score. Rounds do not stall waiting for them — each phase advances when everyone has submitted or when the timer expires, whichever comes first.
What if the host leaves?
The longest-connected remaining player is automatically promoted to host and the game continues. You do not need to restart.
What is Impostor mode?
A word game, and the only turn-based mode. Everyone is shown the same secret word except one player, who gets a different word from the same category — and is not told they are the impostor. Play goes around the table twice and each player types a single word describing theirs, specific enough to prove they know it but vague enough not to give it away. You get 25 seconds per turn. After the second pass the room has 45 seconds to vote on who had the wrong word.
How does the impostor win?
They are caught if more than half the votes cast land on them. If they survive the vote they take +5; every player who correctly named them takes +3. Because the impostor's word comes from the same category as everyone else's, their clues are honest rather than invented, so the round often turns on how near the two words happen to sit.
What is Mimic mode, and why would I want to be recognised?
Everyone is secretly assigned another player and answers the prompt as them, then the room works out who was doing whom. Assignment is a single cycle over a shuffled roster, so you impersonate exactly one person, are impersonated by exactly one person, and never draw yourself. Scoring is mutual: you get +1 for each impression you identify, and the author gets +1 every time someone identifies theirs. That inverts Masquerade — a subtle impersonation scores nothing, so go broad and reach for the thing that person always says.
Which mode should we play first?
Punchline, if the group does not know each other well. Masquerade, Mimic, and Impostor all lean on being able to recognise how your friends think, so they are much better with people who have history. Punchline only asks you to be funny, which makes it the right pick for colleagues, mixed groups, and anyone joining for the first time.
Will we see the same prompts twice?
Not within a session — each room tracks which prompts it has already used. Across separate games you may eventually see repeats, depending on the pack and language you are playing in.
Free and Premium
Is the game actually free?
Yes. The free tier covers up to 8 players, 3 to 5 rounds per game, and four prompt packs — General, Deep Thoughts, Wholesome, and Work Edition. It is supported by ads shown between rounds.
What does Premium include?
Premium is $3.99 per month and removes ads for you and everyone in your rooms, raises the cap to 12 players and 10 rounds, unlocks the Spicy, Pop Culture, and Chaos Mode packs, and lets you write custom prompts of your own. It does not gate any game mode — all four are free.
Can I cancel Premium?
Yes, at any time, and you keep access until the end of the period you have already paid for. Payments are handled by Stripe — we never see or store your card details.
Do all players need Premium for the host’s settings to apply?
No. Premium applies to the room, so if the host has it, everyone in that room gets the larger player cap, the extra packs, and the ad-free experience.
Languages, privacy & suitability
Which languages are supported?
Prompts are available in Arabic, English, French, Spanish, German, Turkish, and Portuguese. The language is chosen per room by the host, and Arabic is laid out right-to-left with an Arabic typeface.
Can we play in a language that isn’t listed?
Not from the built-in library, but Premium custom prompts let you write your own questions in any language you like and play with those.
What data do you store about me?
An anonymous session identifier, your display name and avatar, and the answers, guesses, and scores from games you play. If you sign in, we also store your email via Supabase Auth. The privacy policy has the full detail, including how to request deletion.
Are the answers I write private?
They are hidden from other players until the reveal, which is enforced on the server rather than in the browser — other players genuinely cannot read your answer early, even by inspecting network traffic. After the reveal they are visible to everyone in that room, as the game requires.
Is this suitable for kids or a work team?
The Wholesome pack is written to be safe with family, and Work Edition is written for team socials and remote standups. The Spicy and Chaos packs are not — those are for groups that know each other well. The game as a whole is not directed at children under 13.
Still stuck?
Email ahmad.aboud2002@gmail.com and you will get a reply from an actual person. Bug reports are genuinely welcome — include the room code if the problem happened during a game.